


Two people in a room

by unfriendlyblackhottie



Series: Black Girls Rock: Marvel Cinematic Universe [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 16:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12461949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfriendlyblackhottie/pseuds/unfriendlyblackhottie
Summary: Two people in a room can get more done than one hundred.(My rewrite of civil war using two of my orignaal characters from previous works.)





	Two people in a room

**Author's Note:**

> So it's been years and I still get people telling me how much they loved Haven andhoped to see her return in later works. Well here she is. The first two works in the series must be read for this one to make any sense. Unbetaed so all errors are mine and mine alone.

Riley cries the entire plane ride to see T’challa. She only knew T’Chaka for what some would consider a short time but in that time he was more of a father to her than any man had been in her life. She isn’t the only one to weep for the king though as both of her Dora Milaje guards cry in mourning as well. While the plane lands and parks one of her guards, Afia, takes Riley’s face in her hands and wipes away her tears with a tissue. 

 

“Are you ready, my queen?” Afia asks Riley and it startles Riley. It is the first time she has been referred to as such but she supposes she ought to get used to hearing it. It’s what she is now. A queen.  With T’Chaka dead, T’Challa is now king and she is his queen. 

 

“I am.” She answers. “I need to see my husband.” 

 

xXx

 

Upon seeing her at his hotel, T’Challa takes Riley’s face into his hands and says “I told you to stay in Wakanda.” Riley can see past his words though and realize that he is happy she is there. 

 

Riley places her hand on top of his and tells him, “I am your wife. Not a servant you command. You’re a fool if you think I’m going to let you mourn alone.”

 

T’Challa takes the hand cradling his and kisses the back of it.  “I could live for a thousand lifetimes and not deserve a wife as perfect as you.” Riley leans in and kisses her husband softly, basking in the intimacy of the moment. She pulls away and goes to sit on the bed until she notices his black panther suit laid out if if T’Challa needs it. 

 

“My love why is your suit on the bed. Why isn’t it packed away?” Riley looks from the suit to T’Challa and for the first time since arriving really looks at him. At the hard set of his jaw and at the sadness concealed by anger in his eyes. Riley feels a coldness spread through her body and she wraps her hands around T’Challa and holds on. 

 

“I will kill the man that killed my father.” T’Challa gently extracts himself from Riley’s hold and moves to the bed to take up his suit. 

 

“T’Challa have you even cried yet?” Riley asks. 

 

“A time from tears will come later.” T’Challa tells her. 

 

Riley reaches out to hold onto T’Challa’s arm. “Cry with me, my love. We will mourn together.” T’Challa pulls his arm away from her and returns to putting on his suit. “You have never been a vengeful man. Please don’t let this turn you into one.” 

 

“This isn’t vengeance.” T’Challa tells her. “This is justice.” 

 

xXx

 

Riley is there when Barnes is brought in alive. For a moment she is relieved but when she sees T’Challa’s face she knows it’s not for a lack of trying that Barnes is not dead. Her uneasiness is doubled when she sees Sam is there as well. They haven’t spoken in months and this is truly the last thing she needs on her plate. He falls into step beside her as she follows where the armed guards are leading T’Challa. 

 

“Your highness.” Sam says with a mock nod to Riley. She contemplates flipping him off but resists. 

 

“Sam I am dealing with the loss of my father and my husband is on a roaring rampage of revenge. I do not have time to deal with you right now.” 

 

Sam scoffs. “Your father. You knew the man for what? A year? A year and a half?” 

 

“Yes, and in that time he was more of a father to me than any man I’ve ever known. He welcomed me into his home. He taught me his language. I married his son. T’Chaka was my father and I don’t have to defend my relationship with him to the likes of you.” 

 

“That man,” Sam gestures to T’Challa who is a few paces ahead of them, “has you so warped and you don’t even realize it.” Sam warns her. 

 

“I’m not the one aiding and abetting a known fugitive all because Captain America batted those big blue eyes in my direction. Glass houses Samuel.” Sam rolls his eyes at her and brushes past her to follow Steve Rogers into one of the offices that with the armed guards standing outside them function more like holding cells. She tries to follow T’Challa but a guard stops her saying there are people who will wish to speak to T’Challa but offer the office next to his to wait. 

 

As she waits Riley’s mind wanders to the last time she and Sam spoke. It was shortly after she and T’Challa became engaged and traveled to the states to inform Riley’s friends and family and invite them to Wakanda for the celebration. 

 

At first, Sam had been ecstatic to see her. He’d swooped her up into a hug and held her longer than she’d ever known Sam to hold someone. That changed the moment she’d introduced T’Challa as her fiance. Sam had taken Riley aside and grilled her about T’Challa. About who he was, what he did, how their relationship had developed and with each word from her mouth Riley could see Sam’s disapproval grow. 

Sam had accused her of having stockholm syndrome. Had accused T’Challa of brainwashing Riley. He told her not to be naive and to wonder why a man like that was marrying a woman like her. It’d felt like a slap to the face for Riley. She’d come to invite her friend to share in her happiness only to have it thrown back in her face. 

 

Riley went on the defensive, of course. She told Sam that while he was too shallow to date any woman darker than a paper bag T’Challa wasn’t so eurocentric and saw her for the beauty she was. She proclaimed that T’Challa loved all of her. Nappy hair, dark skin, big nose, full lips and all. The ordeal ended with Sam warning Riley to be wary of T’Challa’s hidden motives in marrying her and Riley telling Sam that if he couldn’t be happy for her then he shouldn’t come to the wedding. Riley wonders now, even if she could one day forgive Sam’s words if she could ever forgive him for missing her wedding. 

 

Her thoughts are interrupted by another being escorted into the office. Riley recognizes her as Haven Mendoza, Captain America’s girlfriend. She doesn’t look as though she just came from battle like the others. She looks jetlagged. There are dark circles under her eyes and she has a large duffel bag in her hands. She looks about as irritated as Riley feels so Riley cannot help but ask her, “Is the man you love making terrible decisions as well?” 

 

Haven laughs and nods. “It’s his default setting.” Haven then stills her face into a serious expression, folds her hands in front of her and bows her head to Riley. “Your majesty. Please allow me to express my deepest condolences on the loss of King T’Chaka.”

 

Riley smiles at the sincerity in Haven’s words. “That is very kind of you. Please have a seat.” Riley gestures to the seat at the other end of the couch she’s sitting on. 

 

Haven takes the seat and lets out a long sigh. She runs her hands over her face and through her hair. “All this started over a piece of paper.”

 

“A piece of paper your boyfriend refused to sign.” Riley can’t help but point out. 

 

“Can’t say I blame him.” Haven says honestly. 

 

“So you think the avengers should be able to run around with impunity?” Riley asks with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Absolutely not.” Haven says without hesitation. “I’m a black woman and I can easily understand why countries full of black and brown people are weary of a man running around with the American flag on his chest saying he’s here to save the day. Historically it doesn’t work out well. I’ve read the accords though and that piece of paper is so full of holes I could use it as a strainer. Do I agree with that piece of paper that Tony Stark is flaunting around to assuage his guilt, no. But do I think the avengers should have to answer to someone before they just decide they’re going to run around playing superhero.”  

 

Riley nods in agreement. “I admire your ability to think critically of the situation before you. Seems everyone else here is letting their emotions run them. My husband included.” 

 

“He did just lose his father.” Haven defends. 

 

“I understand that. Believe me I do. But to want blood in return has never been T’Challa’s way. He is feeling a whirlwind of emotion right now. Grief for his father. Fear over his new role as king. I worry he’s using this quest for vengeance as a way to overcome these unpleasant emotions.” 

 

“May I speak frankly and with the utmost respect your majesty?” Haven asks. 

 

“Please do. And call me Felicia.” Riley gestures for her to go on. 

 

“If what I’ve heard is true then you and King T’Challa had a whirlwind romance. Married within a year of meeting each other, I’ve heard. Are you more worried that a man who seeks vengeance is not the man you married and that T’Challa will one day regret his actions or that a man who seeks vengeance is exactly the man you married and T’Challa is acting within his nature.” 

 

Riley laughs softly. “You’ve been talking to Sam?” Haven shrugs but doesn’t deny it. “Ms. Mendoza I know what Sam thinks of my marriage but I assure you I know my husband. I know his heart and it is not in him to seek revenge. It never has been.” 

 

“Call me Haven and please know I wasn't disrespecting your marriage. Believe me I understand what it’s like to have everyone think they get an opinion on your relationship.” Haven explains.

 

“I know you do.” Riley tells her, patting her arm. Riley was still American (though stationed overseas) when the news broke of Captain America’s transgender girlfriend. Every news outlet covered  the story and everyone and their grandmother had something to say on the subject. 

 

They both look up and out the glass of the office walls when they hear yelling coming from one of the other offices. The blinds are drawn though and the voice isn’t recognizable and a little muffled but they both know yelling cannot be good news. Riley looks over at Haven to see her looking as if she’s in physical pain. 

 

“Are you ok?” She asks Haven. 

 

“Defying one hundred and seventeen countries for one person. Steve thinks he’s innocent but,” Haven says with a grim chuckle, “A girl can’t help but wonder how Steve can cling so violently to his past and still claim he wants to build a future with me.” 

 

After hearing that Riley can’t help but ask, “Is that why you’re wearing a gorgeous diamond ring on a chain around your neck instead of on your ring finger?” 

 

Haven’s hand instantly reaches up and closes around the ring. She toys with it for just a second before tucking it back into her shirt. “When Steve first found out Barnes was out there I knew he would go after him and he came to me and told me that he couldn’t ask his girlfriend to go with him but maybe he could ask his wife. He already had the ring so I knew it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision and I loved him so I said yes. Getting married while on the hunt for a Soviet assassin wasn’t quite how I pictured my dream and yet that’s what we did and it was beautiful all the same.” 

 

“But?” Riley prompts, knowing there’s more to that story. 

 

“In the back of my mind I wonder if I’m his consolation prize. If maybe I’m the second best choice. He can’t go back to his old life, his old love and maybe I’m just what he’s settling for instead.” Haven wipes a stray tear from her eye. “I’m sorry. I just dumped this all on you.” 

 

“No,” Riley says, reaching over to take Haven’s hand, “I asked because I wanted to know. I know we barely know each other but you can trust me. I think we’re in a position to better understand each other than we know. Maybe we can stick together and make some sense out of all of this.” 

 

“Maybe keep our idiot husbands from making an even bigger mess of things.” Haven hopes. 

 

“We can try.” Riley agrees. Haven holds Riley’s hand just a little tighter and suddenly the room is plunged into darkness. Even with the red hazard lights flashing on the ceilings there is hardly enough light to see by. 

 

“I’m just going to go out a limb and say this isn’t good.” Haven guesses. She kneels down on the floor next to her duffel and opens it. “Sam told me a lot about you. Said you were an excellent shot. Hopefully you aren’t too rusty.” She shows Riley the contents of the bag and underneath a few set of clothes are three different choices of guns and a few knives. “Pick your poison.” Haven tells her.

 

Riley selects a small handgun, small and easily concealable but will put holes in someone all the same. “It’s like riding a bike. You don’t forget.” 

 

The two slip so easily back into their roles as assassin and soldier. They move through the hallways efficiently, watching each other’s backs as if it were second nature. They follow the noise and commotion which seems to be leading them to the roof and they make it there just in time to see a helicopter sliding off of it into the waters below. 

 

“Steve I am going to kick your ass.” Haven mutters under her breath. Haven glances off to the side at the crowds of people evacuating the building and hopes this means getting to weapons lockup will be easier. Haven takes off running like a woman and a mission and Riley follows out of sheer curiosity. 

 

Breaking into weapons lockup is easy, whoever was supposed to be guarding it is long gone and between the two of them Haven and Felicia get past the lock with ease. Haven spots Sam’s wing firsts, hefting them onto her shoulder and when she turns to get Steve’s shield she sees Riley is already holding it, looking contemplative. 

 

“Felicia?” Haven asks. 

 

“The vibranium used to make this shield was stolen from Wakanda only a few decades ago. To see it painted with these colors feels wrong.” Riley's fingers gently run along the edge of the shield as she talks and for a moment Haven is scared Riley won’t give it to her. She does though. She hands it to Haven and tells her to go. “Find your husband. I have to go find mine. Try to keep yours from doing something stupid.” 

 

Haven shrugs. “I’ll try but it’s like I said. It’s his default state.” 

 

xXx

 

Finding Sam and then finding Steve is what Haven would unfortunately consider the easy part. Upon finding Steve she immediately begins glaring at him, he leans in to kiss her but she dodges so she can continue glaring at him. 

 

“You’re angry about the helicopter.” He guesses. 

 

Haven continues to glare. 

 

“She’s angry about the helicopter.” Sam confirms. “I see our friend is still out cold.” Sam gestures to where Steve has secured Bucky’s arm in a vice and he is unconscious. 

 

“Guess we just have to wait now.” Steve says. 

 

“While we wait can we talk for a moment Steven?”Haven asks. 

 

“Ouch. Full first name. Someone is in trouble.” Sam stage whispers to Steve. 

 

“Would you like to join this talk Samuel?” Haven asks crossing her arms over her chest. 

 

“I would but I think I see something over there so I’m gonna go look at it.” Sam scurries away from Haven to go and stand by one of the windows. 

 

“Ok So I know the whole helicopter thing looked bad...” Steve starts but Haven cuts him off. 

 

“I’m not mad about the helicopter. Well I am but not right now. I just need to know how far this is going to go Steve.” 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“I mean all of this.” Haven gestures around wildly, to Bucky, to the abandoned warehouse, to everything. 

 

“As far as it needs to.” Steve says. 

 

“No.” Haven says firmly. “That is not an answer. There has to be a line somewhere Steve and I need to know where it is.” 

 

Steve takes Haven’s hands and looks her in the eyes. “I know this is a lot. It’s dangerous and I understand if you’d rather not be involved at this level.” 

 

“I am your wife Steve. Where else am I supposed to be? Should I just go and wait for someone to bring me back your body. I’m not that girl that exist just to cry when you finally do something stupid enough that you don’t come back from. I’m with you all the way but I have to know what I’m fighting for. If I die I want it to be for something.” 

 

“Haven you know I’d never let anything happen to you.” 

 

“Guys.” Sam says from across the room grabbing both of their attention. “He’s up.” Sam tells them.

 

“This conversation isn’t over.” Haven tells Steve.

 

xXx

 

The car ride is awkward to say the least. Between the wall of tension between Bucky and Sam, Haven and Steve’s spat and well, the ride to what could be a fight to the death, it’s all very tense. Haven decides to diffuse the tension. 

 

“Ok so how about an icebreaker. Let’s all go around and say our name and a fun fact about ourselves. I’ll start. My name is Haven and I’m a Taurus.” She turns around in her seat to face Bucky. “A Taurus is a...” 

 

“I know what a Taurus is.” Bucky tells her. 

 

“Ok great. Sam?” 

 

“Are you serious?” Sam asks her. 

 

“Very.” Haven responds. 

 

“How about we play the quiet game.” Steve suggests. 

 

“Or what? You’ll turn this car around. This isn’t a trip to disneyland Steve.” 

 

“I’ll say.” Sam agrees. Haven looks back at Sam and for just a second they share that common link that only two people that have a very annoying mutual friend can share.  

 

xXx

 

Riley finds T’Challa easily after the Barnes’ escape and he wraps her in his arms and for just a moment she lets herself forget where they are and what’s happening around them and just enjoy the moment. The moment is near instantly shattered when two of T’Challa’s advisors approach him about how they’re working to find Barnes. T’Challa sees the expression on her face and takes her aside. 

 

“I know you do not approve.” T’Challa says, “But for my piece of mind please stay here. I need you safe. I cannot lose one more person I love.” 

 

“Ok.” Riley agrees. “I’ll stay here.” She does. She stays put but she also stays busy. 

 

She spends a full day looking into the bombing at the UN. It doesn't make sense. Aside from her husband and father there were no world leaders there and with Shuri assuring her no one has so much as approached Wakanda borders she can only assume it wasn’t an attack set for any one person. She then thinks of the Winter Soldier. She thinks of how many people claim he is the world’s greatest assassin but he was caught on camera setting a bomb in a news van when she knows there were stealthier and more deadly ways to deliver such a device. It forces her to consider that maybe Steve was right and that Barnes didn’t actually do it. l

She digs as deep as she can into everything she can, trying to make sense out of any of it. She hits walls. She hits so many walls but it doesn’t stop her. She looks into the psychiatrist assigned to interrogate barnes because as far as reports go he was the only one with Barnes when he flew into his berserker rage. She does what she wants to hit every person in the compound for not doing. She runs facial recognition software on his image and she almost falls out of her chair at what she finds. Helmut Zemo of Sokovian intelligence. 

 

When she sees the word Sokovia she goes to the internet and pulls one of the  _ in memoriam  _ articles for the Sokovia tragedy. She scrolls to the bottom and sees at least twenty people with the surname Zemo lost their lives and she thinks it’s safe to assume at least one of them was related to this man. 

 

She doesn’t go to anyone with what she found, unsure of who she can trust. Just about everyone here has an agenda and she’s not sure whose agenda aligns with her own. Well she knows one person but that person is currently in a supermax prison. That does give her an idea though. She pulls out her phone and begins making phone calls. She is a queen after all. It’s about time she started acting like one. 

 

xXx

 

General Ross greets her when her private helicopter lands and just her first look at the prison makes her skin crawl. 

 

“The papers have been signed and everything is in order. She’s all yours.” Ross tells her. He leads her to Haven’s cell where Haven is sitting with her hands cuffed behind her back and her legs shackled together. 

 

“What’s going on?” Haven asks. 

 

“Extradition!” Riley says with glee in her voice. “Haven I feel sorry for you. I truly do. I want to help you. Which is why I have arranged for you to stand trial for your crimes in Wakanda. You’ll plead guilty to your laundry list of crimes and I as queen will have mercy on you and make you my personal drudge. You’ll follow me everywhere and do as I say. It’ll be just like being sisters. Y’know except for the part where you can never disobey me under penalty of death.” 

 

“This doesn’t make sense. None of my crimes were committed in Wakanda.” Haven defends. 

 

“Yes but the United States is desperate to stay in Wakanda’s good graces and they have no trouble offering you up as a sacrificial lamb. Someone has to pay for our King’s death and while we don’t have Barnes or Rogers yet, you are the next best thing.” If looks could kill Riley knows she would be dead. “Cool it with the death glare. You don’t exactly have a choice. Like I said, we’re sticking together.” 

 

At the callback to their earlier conversation Haven’s face goes through a series of emotions as if she remembers that she once trusted Riley but can’t bring herself to do it again. At least until Riley reaches up to rub her neck, which to anyone watching would look casual but draws Haven’s attention to the chain holding a diamond ring hanging there. 

 

Someone should tell Ross, Riley thinks, that his guards are so easily bought. It was practically no work to get one of them to slip her Haven’s ring and chain while no one was looking. 

 

“Fine.” Haven says, looking away from Riley, “Just don’t expect me not to spit in your food.” 

 

“That’s the spirit.” Riley says then adds “Though if you ever actually spit in my food I’ll have your tongue cut out of your mouth.” 

 

“You are not the woman I knew.” Riley hears and she walks over to stand in front of Sam’s cell. 

 

“Pardonne-moi?” She says, fake accent and all. 

 

“The Riley I knew cared about freedom. The Riley I knew marched when people were gunned down in the streets and was proud to be arrested for it. She would be proudly standing in one of these cells if she thought she was standing up for what was right.” There’s so much disgust in Sam’s eyes and Riley has to admit, even to herself, that it does hurt. There was a point in her life when Sam was her best friend and now. Now she’s nothing to him. 

 

“Oh Sam. I know it’s hard for you to accept our positions now but do you really think your words can hurt me? I’m a queen and you’re another black man in prison. Do you really think you’ve won this?” Riley turns away immediately after she says it, disgusted with herself. The insult is a callback to a conversation they had years ago in regards to why they’d joined the military. While Riley had spoken about wanting to raise money for college Sam told her about wanting to make something of himself, to make his mother proud and to do something great. He’d trusted her enough to tell her that he never wanted to be anyone’s stereotype of a black man and here she was throwing it in his face. 

 

Haven’s cell is unlocked and she’s released into Riley’s custody and the two of them make their way back to Riley's helicopter only to run right into Tony Stark. 

 

“Your highness.” Tony greets her with a courtesy head nod. “What’s happening here?”

 

“Like you don’t know.” Haven says with a scoff. “My government traded away my inalienable rights to soothe diplomatic tension.” 

 

“Ms. Mendoza is being dramatic. Think of it as an extended vacation with no foreseeable end and back breaking labor. Though I do have to wonder what you’re doing here.” Riley enquires. 

 

“Came to see if I could get a lead on where Cap flew off to. Try to cut him and Barnes off.” 

 

Haven laughs. “Well good luck with that. Last Steve told me he and Bucky were headed to Manila. Or was it Croatia. I always did have such a poor memory.” 

 

“We’re going to go now.” Riley says. “Though do tell me if you find out anything. Like my husband has been saying he killed our king so he’s ours to deal with.” 

 

Riley waits just long enough to see the prison doors close beneath her before uncuffing Haven and handing her a change of clothes as well as her ring and chain. 

 

“So Steve is right. Barnes didn’t bomb the UN.” Riley says. 

 

“I know.” Haven responds. 

 

“It was the psychiatrist. He was a fraud. He set this whole thing in motion to get to Barnes.” 

 

“I know.” Haven repeats. 

 

“What else do you know?” Riley asks. 

 

“He’s after the others. There are more winter soldiers and he wants to use them.” 

 

That doesn’t match up with what Riley has put together so far and she says as much. “It’s pretty safe to say he lost someone in Sokovia. He hates the Avengers and everything they are. If he used the winter soldiers to kill them he’d still have to deal with the soldiers when they were done.” Haven asks for clarification so Riley comes up with a quick analogy. “Let’s say pit bulls mauled your family to death. You’d hate the entire breed. You’d never pet one again. He’s not going to use super soldiers to kill the avengers.” 

 

“So what do you think his plan is?” Haven asks. 

 

“I don’t know. But whatever it is I have a feeling we’re playing right into it. We’re all exactly where he wants us and unless we can figure out what’s going on he’s going to win.” Riley’s phone chimes with a text message from her mole inside the prison telling her that Tony Stark had about thirty seconds of unsupervised contact with Sam Wilson and just left the raft. “Does Sam know where Rogers and Barnes are headed?” She asks Haven. Haven nods. “Any chance he would tell Stark?” 

 

“After what we all just went through? I doubt it. You should have seen Stark. Steve tried to talk to him, to tell him what we knew and get him to see reason but he wouldn’t listen. He said he was ‘trying to go easy on us’,” Haven even uses air quotes for emphasis, “but honestly the way they were fighting I’m surprised no one died.” 

 

“What if Stark is seeing reason though? What if Sam told him where Steve was if he thought Stark was going to help Steve.” 

 

“Then what’s the play?” Haven asks. “This guy has to know he’s outnumbered. He’s outmatched. So what’s his end goal?” 

 

“I don’t know but I do know that even on my best day and even with my training I wouldn’t want to face down with Captain America, The Winter Soldier and Iron Man.” Riley says. Haven agrees, until her mind flashes to a late night conversation with Steve in a hotel room. Weeks after SHIELD had fallen and the search for Bucky began steve had confided in her about the things he’d learned that Hydra had done. Haven’s stomach lurches and she reaches out to grab Riley’s arm to steady herself. 

 

“We have to get to them now. I could be wrong. I pray I’m wrong but I think I know what the play is. He’s not going to kill them. He’s going to make them kill each other.” 

 

xXx

 

Upon landing they find the quinjet used by Barnes and Rogers parked out front of the base and all Haven and Riley can do is pray they aren’t too late. 

 

“T’Challa’s here.” Riley says spotting the second quinjet. “I have to go find him.”

 

“Go.” Haven tells her. “I’ll find Steve and Barnes.” Before they part though Haven pulls Riely into a tight embrace. “Thank you. For trusting me and helping me get here.”

 

“Of course.” Riley says returning the embrace. “Like I said we’re sticking together.”  

 

They separate then, both women in search of their husbands. 

 

xXx

 

Sneaking up on T’Challa is not an easy feat. Riley doesn't mean to, of course. She assumes he’ll hear her coming but she does startle him when she approaches him from behind and whispers his name. 

 

She gives him all the information she has, every detail making sure to leave nothing out. Whatever decision T’Challa makes following this conversation, Riley has decided, he will do it having all the facts. She knows she’ll love him afterwards, no matter what he does so she doesn’t bother trying to change his mind about killing the man that killed his father. 

 

“Do what you feel you must,” She tells him, “But please know something, I married a king, not an executioner.” 

 

T’Challa doesn’t say anything, and with his mask it’s impossible to tell what he’s thinking. Riley isn’t sure she wants to know what he’s thinking so she turns and leaves. At this point she knows she’s done all she can for her husband and whatever happens next is up to him. 

 

xXx

 

Seeing the horror on Steve and Bucky’s faces as they look upon the dead bodies of the other winter Soldiers should horrify Haven but all she can feel is relief that they’re alone. She launches herself at Steve, wrapping her arms around him and breathing a sigh of relief. 

 

“Haven? How did you get here? Where are the others?” Steve asks her. 

 

“There’s no time. We have to get out of here now. Right now.” She insist urgently, grabbing at Steve’s arm and trying to drag him towards the door. 

 

“Why the rush?” She hears behind her and  _ oh god no  _ that’s Tony’s voice. 

 

She whirls around, positioning her body in front of Steve’s. “Tony. You have to leave. Right now. We all do.This is exactly what he wants.” 

 

Suddenly the doors behind Tony slide shut with a loud metal clang and a voice comes from behind them saying, “The lady is right. This is exactly where I wanted all of us to be.” 

 

Haven can only stand there in horror as Zemo speaks of a regime crumbling from the inside. She doesn’t watch the video, already knows what it is and what will happen, instead she watches Tony. Haven always attributed her ability to read people as the reason she was so good at her job at SHIELD. She could look at a mark and know what they were going to do before they did it and looking at Tony Stark right now she knows what he’s going to do. 

 

“Tony,” She says in a voice so soft it’s as if she were speaking to a child, “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now but you have to stay calm. This is exactly what he wanted. He wants to use you like his pawn. You can ruin his whole plan right now. If you just stay calm and don’t do anything he’ll have done all this only to see it fail. Just stay-” Haven doesn’t get to finish her sentence as a repulsion blast hit her square in the chest. 

 

Haven has never in her life experienced pain like this and for a moment she isn’t sure that she won’t die. She’s so focused on the pain she can barely make out the sounds around her, metal colliding with metal, gunshots, explosions, and even Steve shouting her name. She wills herself to roll over onto her stomach and push herself up onto her knees. She looks down at her chest and thankfully it doesn’t look as bad as it feels. The burns look superficial even though she feels like she was hit with a sledgehammer that was on fire. 

 

She’s helpless to do anything but watch as Steve desperately tries to hold Tony back to give Bucky time to escape. It’s only just begun and this fight already seems more brutal than the one at the airport. It makes sense though, Haven figures. The goal of that fight was detainment, the goal of this one is death. Watching they way Tony fights to get past Steve has her terrified that Tony will make her a widow before she’s ever properly gotten to be a wife. She follows the fight as it moves, not because she wants to see it but she can’t look away, like a car crash. 

 

Haven lets out a chilling cry when Bucky’s arm is  blasted off by Tony’s arc reactor. In that moment all she can do is pray that Bucky doesn’t have any sensitivity or feeling in that arm. Steve and Tony continue to go at each other but Haven just can’t stand there and watch Bucky lie on the ground. She swoops in and pulls Bucky up from the ground, looping his arm around her neck and helping him away from the fight. She gets him inside quinjet he and Steve flew in on and injects him with a sedative from one of the first aid kits on board before telling him that she’s going back for Steve. 

 

“You’re Steve’s wife, right?” He asks as she turns to go back, words running together as the sedative takes effect. 

 

“Yeah.” She answers honestly. 

 

“Steve did good.” He tells her and for just a moment Haven thinks she sees what Steve must be seeing in Bucky. 

 

She gets back in just enough time to see Steve straddling Tony’s chest and raining down punches on his mask. Steve rips the mask off and raises his shield above Tony’s head. For a moment, just one moment Haven thinks Steve is going to kill Tony. The sound that comes out of her chest when Steve slams the shield down on Tony's arc reactor is a cross between a sob and a sigh of relief. She’s frozen in place for just a moment as she watches the light fade from Tony’s chest. Steve staggers to his feet and Haven rushes to help him. She puts his arm around her shoulder just as she did with Bucky and lets him put his weight on her. 

 

“That shield doesn’t belong to you.” Tony says as they walk away. “You don’t deserve it. My father made that shield.” He taunts. Steve pauses for just a moment and drops the shield on the ground, not even looking back at Tony. They make it a few more steps before Haven stops and goes back and picks up the shield. 

 

“Haven just leave it.” Steve tells her. 

 

“It’s not his to keep. It’s government property.” Tony yells at her. 

 

Haven looks over at Tony, shield in hand and says “You’re right. It is government property. Just not the American government.” 

 

xXx 

 

“He says he wants to go back under.” Riley tells Haven as they watch through a window as Bucky and Steve talk in one of the medical rooms. 

 

“After all we just went through and he wants to just go back under?” Haven mutters. 

 

“I know. We offered him different kinds of therapies and medications but he refused. He didn’t strike me as the type to take the easy way out.” Riley agrees. “Then I thought about what I’d do to protect those I loved and I realized going into cryostasis is the least of it.” 

 

“You think he feels like he has to do this? For Steve?” Haven asks. 

 

“Maybe. I’m no mind reader but that man just watched Steve damn near die to protect him. Maybe he feels like it’s his turn to do the protecting.” 

 

Haven looks over at Riley and smiles. “You’re going to be one hell of a queen.” 

 

Haven goes into the room and asks Steve is she can talk to Bucky alone. When Steve looks hesitant Haven says “C’mon Steve. Not to be an asshole or anything but I think I can take a guy with one arm.” Steve kisses her temple and leaves them be and Haven takes a seat in front of Bucky. 

 

“Look I know you’re probably not going to talk to me and you wouldn’t tell me the truth if you did but that’s fine because all I need you to do is listen.” Haven looks over at the cryo tank and then back to Bucky. “If you’re doing this because it’s what you want that’s fine. But if you’re doing this because you feel like you need to protect Steve then I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to do that. See I know Steve does stupid things and someone always has to stop him or save him and maybe at one point that was you, but see Steve did a very stupid thing and he married me and now it’s my job to protect him.” Haven toys with the ring hanging around her neck. “For the rest of his life Steve is going to have someone to pull at his leash or jump in head first with him and that someone is me. So believe me you don’t have to do this to protect him.” 

 

“I almost got him killed.” Bucky says. 

 

“Steve almost dies going to get milk. Then he’ll still comes back with the wrong kind of milk. Like he knows I hate skim milk so I have no clue why he does that but I digress. What I’m trying to say is that there will always be something Steve is willing to jump off a building for but that doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to stop building tall buildings. I’m not trying to tell you what to do. Just think about what I’ve said.” Haven stands up and wraps her arms around Bucky because between the seventy plus years of torture and the war there’s no telling the last time he was hugged. 

 

xXx

 

A day later Riley is alone in her office when there’s a knock the door. 

 

“Come in.” She instructs the person and Haven walks into the room with Steve’s shield in her hands. Riley rises to her feet and claps her hands. “I hear you’re the woman who convinced Barnes to give the therapies and medication a try. I am impressed.” 

 

Haven shrugs her shoulder. “I just gave him all the facts. It was his decision really. I came here because I wanted to ask you something.” 

 

“Of course. Go on.” 

 

“You said that you and I should stick together and I wanted to know if you meant that now that you’re husband has found his sense and mine has stopped punching his way through everyone that disagrees with him.”

 

“Haven, of course I meant it. I know we’ve only known each other a short time but in that time I’ve grown to trust you like a sister.”  

 

“I’m very happy to hear you say that.” Haven says. “It makes me feel a lot less foolish for doing this.” Haven then drops to one knee and presents the shield like an offering. 

 

“Um.” Riley says confused. 

 

“I’ve been studying Wakandan law and it seems customary to present a gift when pledging the Umoja Ahadi.” 

 

Riley sucks in a breath of surprise. “Haven, that is a serious oath. It is not to be take lightly. If you were to betray it not even I could save you from the consequences.” 

 

“I’m aware. I studied it extensively. If I understand it correctly it will make us akin to sisters.”

 

“It will, yes.” Riley tells her. “It means we will have no secrets. No possessions we don’t share. We’ll confide in each other, guide each other. We’ll follow each other into danger and die for each other if necessary. To betray this oath is to welcome the penalty of death. These aren’t just words you can say.”

 

“I understand that.” Haven says. “In the past few days I’ve grown to trust you more than people I’ve known and fought beside for years. I feel like the world is constantly changing and sometimes I feel like I can barely keep up. We’re just two human women fighting in a world of gods and monsters and I feel like we have to stick together if we’re going to have any chance of surviving and keeping those we love safe.”  

 

Riley smiles and reaches out to take the shield from Haven. “I accept your gift and I accept your oath. No matter how much the world is going to change or what is going to come we’ll face it together.” 

 

xXx

 

After taking the shield to the armoury Riley went off in search of Steve. She found him with T’challa and cautiously approached the two. 

 

“Am I interrupting?” She asked. 

 

“Of course not my love.” T’Challa tells her while taking her hands and kissing her cheek. “Was there something you needed?” 

 

“There was. I was wondering if Captain Rogers would mind accompanying me while I walk through the gardens.” 

 

Steve looks at T’Challa and seeing no objections he agrees to Riley's request and offers his arm to her. 

 

The Wakandan Royal Gardens are beautiful with so many of flowers and fruits blooming in all shades and colors. 

 

“Captain Rogers I know you and Sam are very close and I also know at the moment that Sam doesn’t have the highest opinion of me so I hope we can speak and you can form your own unbiased opinion of me.” 

 

“Sam loves you very much. He is worried about you though. He wants to see you.” Steve tells her. 

 

“I know. I just don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” Riley admits

 

“I understand but your highness, you have been nothing but generous to me and know that my wife thinks the world of you. The good I have heard about you greatly outweighs the bad.” 

 

“That is nice to hear because it is your wife I’d like to talk to you about.” 

 

“Is something wrong?” Steve asks, worried. 

 

“Not at all. I have to ask though, do you love your wife Captain?” 

 

Steve looks startled and a little insulted by the question. “Of course I love her. She’s my wife. I wouldn’t have married her if I didn’t love her.” 

 

“You’ll have to excuse me, I only ask because it seems she isn’t so convinced.” 

 

“Haven knows I love her.” Steve assures Riley. 

 

“Maybe she does. Though maybe she also feels as if you’re settling for her. You cannot have the life you used to have so maybe she’s the next best thing.” 

 

“She doesn’t think that. She can’t.” Steve words sound sure but his voice betrays his fear. 

 

“Then why doesn’t she wear her wedding ring on her finger? Why around her neck?” 

 

“There was a lot of criticism about our relationship when it first became public and Haven didn’t want to deal with any more by letting the world know we were married.” 

“I may be out of line for saying this but that woman broke laws and became an international criminal for you. That doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who is scared of a little criticism. It would make sense however for her not to want to get used to wearing the ring and then have to stop when you change your mind.” 

 

“I’m not going to change my mind.” Steve’s voice nearly explodes out of his throat and Riley can see two guards get into position to attack. She waves them off with a hand then turns to a bloom of flowers. She plucks a purple one and raises it to her nose, enjoying the calming scent. 

 

“With all due respect Captain Rogers, I don’t think I’m the one you need to convince.” She hands him the flower and tells him “Last I talked to her she said she was headed to the library.” 

 

xXx

 

Haven is in the library when Steve goes to find her. She’s studying the Wakandan language, Steve guesses, noticing the way her mouth moves as she practices sounds, something she does whenever she’s studying a new language. He takes just a moment to stare at her, to see her relaxed and free with no stress or worries.  _ Except maybe the worry that her husband doesn't love her _ , Steve thinks bitterly. Steve is so angry with himself he can barely take it. He loves Haven, loves her more than he can take sometimes. She’s the brightest, most beautiful thing in his world and he can’t forgive himself for failing to let her know that.

 

“Hey stranger.” Haven says, startling Steve out of his pit of self loathing. “You looking for me?” 

 

“No, I was actually looking for the bathroom but I think I made a wrong turn somewhere.” Haven laughs and Steve can’t help but smile at the sound. Haven holds out her hands and makes grabby motions so Steve goes to her and kneels by her chair. He takes the flower Riley had given him and tucks it in Haven’s hair, right behind her ear. “I am so in love with you.” Steve tells her. 

 

“Of course you are.” Haven agrees. “I’m amazing.” 

 

“Can I tell you something?” Steve asks. 

 

“You can tell me anything, you know that.” 

 

“When I proposed to you I didn’t do it to make you come with me. To look for Bucky I mean.” 

 

Haven looks confused and nods in agreement. “I know that Steve. You already had the ring so I know it wasn’t like a manipulation tactic. You’re not that kind of guy.” 

 

“That’s not what I mean. I mean, if you’d said you didn’t want to come with me, that you weren’t willing to drop your life and come with me then I wouldn’t have gone. I would have stayed with you.” Haven’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head. 

 

“Steve you don’t have to say that. I know how much Bucky means to you. He was such a big part of your life. Of course you would have looked for him.” 

 

“Not if it cost me you. Haven, I’ve never truly felt like I belonged anywhere but when I’m with you I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I stopped being able to imagine my life without you in it a long time ago. I would have tried to make sure Bucky was safe and tried to make contact with him but I don’t think I could have risked what we had to do it. You’re the one thing in my life I’m willing to be selfish with.” Steve reaches up and unclasps the chain around Haven’s neck and slips her wedding ring off the chain. He slides the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you for all you’ve done for me.” 

 

“Steve I’m your wife. You don’t have to thank me.” 

 

“I do though. I don’t ever want you to think I take you for granted. Every event in my life, from the serum to the crash, has been leading me to you and I am so grateful for that. For you.” 

 

Even with the tears streaming down Haven’s face and the way she flings herself at him, Steve knows it isn’t enough. He’ll never stop looking for the words to let her know how much he loves her, how much she means to him but that’s ok. He has the rest of his life to find them. 

  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
